San Luis R.C. sees steady rise in cases of COVID-19
Jump prompts renewed calls for social distancing
SAN LUIS RIO COLORADO, Son. – An image posted on City Hall’s Facebook page shows the bottoms of a pair of bare feet. Dangling from a toe is a tag that says “COVID-19.”
Superimposed on the photo is a warning: “Don’t expose yourself, the next could be you.”
The graphic reminder about the risks of COVID-19 comes as San Luis Rio Colorado officials continue efforts to promote social distancing in a city that leads the state of Sonora in the number of deaths related to the novel coronavirus, with 40.
On Monday, the number of new cases recorded in the border city across from Yuma County rose to 30, after having hovered in the single digits the two previous days – nine on Saturday and seven on Sunday.
The new cases brought to 335 the total number of cases confirmed in San Luis Rio Colorado since the start of the pandemic. The statewide total for Sonora as of Monday was 1,701 cases.
In a news conference on social media, Sonora’s state health minister, Enrique Clausen, blamed the new surge of cases in San Luis Rio Colorado and elsewhere in the state on a failure by some people to heed calls to stay at home.
“There are those who go out without the need, solely for the reason of going out to go out, out of boredom, and (there were) those this weekend who, amid the crisis of the pandemic, went out socializing and to party.”
San Luis Rio Colorado
currently accounts for 20 percent of all confirmed cases across Sonora, trailing only Hermosillo, the state’s capital, which has recorded 536 cases.
In neighboring Baja California, meanwhile, Mexicali is seeing a continuing rise in the number of infections, while in Tijuana the number of cases is dropping, according to Alonso Perez, who heads the state’s health ministry.
As of Monday, Mexicali had recorded 1,983 total cases and 177 COVID-19-related deaths, while Tijuana had 1878 deaths and 471 deaths.
According to health officials, Mexicali has the third-highest case rate among metropolitan areas in Mexico, exceeded only by two communities that are suburbs of Mexico City, Iztapalapa and Gustavo A. Madero.
Mexicali’s city government on Monday doubled down on measures to control the spread of the virus, among them ordering the closure of markets and convenience stores nightly beginning at 7, requiring the use of masks in public and closing some streets.